Taiwan bridge collapse: 11 trapped on boats below as oil tanker plunges into river

Video shows tanker almost making it across before tumbling back in flames into the bay

At least 11 people are feared to have been trapped after an arch bridge collapsed into a bay in eastern Taiwan, sending an oil tanker falling into the waters below and crushing a number of fishing boats.

Dramatic footage from a nearby CCTV camera showed the moment the tanker drove over the bridge, and was almost safely at the other side, when the entire 140m-long structure suddenly gave way.

Five people were on the bridge at the time and are missing, Interior Minister Hsu Kuo-yung told reporters, while one of the fishing boats trapped by the falling debris had six people on board.

In addition, 10 people have been taken to hospital so far, with six suffering serious, life-threatening injuries.

The collapse occurred in the small but often crowded Pacific fishing village of Nanfangao, about 60km south-east of Taipei.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said she hoped all government departments would do everything possible to save people and "keep the number of deaths and injuries as low as possible," the government-run Central News Agency reported.

National Fire Agency spokesperson Su Hong-wei said the tanker's fall smashed three fishing boats. It also set off a fire on the tanker truck but it did not spread beyond the vehicle.

The weather at the time was sunny, but the collapse occurred hours after a typhoon swept by the island. Disaster relief officials would not say if the storm had weakened the bridge or give other details on the potential cause. CNA reported that it was possible a bridge pier may have collapsed.

The center of Typhoon Mitag passed east of Taiwan on Monday night and early Tuesday, but the outer winds gusting up to 137 kilometers per hour (85 mph) affected the island before the storm moved to the northeast. The storm injured 12 people, felled trees, damaged vehicles and caused power outages around the island.

Nanfangao Bridge is a tourist attraction in Yilan. It was opened in 1998 and was built to replace a lower bridge that prevented large fishing vessels from passing underneath.

According to the company that designed the 18-metre-high (nearly 60 feet) high bridge, MAA Consultants, it's the only single-span arch bridge in Taiwan supported by cables and the second single arch-cable steel bridge in the world.

Additional reporting by agencies